Snow heading for the Northeast

The northeast is bracing for a snow storm. A recent study shows that 94.8% of us (14 states) have a working flashlight; 89.7% a 3-day supply of medicine; 82.9% a 3-day supply of food; 77.7% battery radio; 53.6% 3-day supply of water; and 21.1% an evacuation plan.

I think we need to research the importance of water or about 50% of us might not make it.

I hope those Sandy victims finally have electricity and water that the president promised and the press promptly forgot about or the snow won't be welcomed.  Two weeks ago, many were still without power and heat.

What’s in your purse?

I carry a small bag so I can't load it with junk. I don't even carry a bill fold/change purse. Kleenex, pen, checkbook, keys, ipod, pocket calendar/scheduler, sun glasses, small tape measure, some cards for coffee, hand sanitizer, comb, lipstick. I used to carry a small tool set but the government thinks that is a weapon.

Don’t set your purse on the kitchen counter.  Remember where it’s been.

Your healthcare will be more expensive and less efficient, if our other 4 are any indication

Before Obamacare, (PPACA) we had four major government health systems, all with significant problems. Medicare, Medicaid and S-CHIP are riddled with fraud and waste, and the recommendations put in place by the GAO have not been implemented by the Obama Administration. So Obama burdens us with another plan, this one with 14,000 regulations, thousands of new government employees and whole new bureaucracies.

The Veterans Affairs is the 4th, and although a fantastic organization, its claims are 255 days behind on the average, and 426 days behind in California. Do you suppose this might have made a difference for the veteran who just killed two other veterans and made threats against his family? How could anyone have gotten help for him with kind of wait? But guns, not health care for veterans, will be blamed.

Both items in JAMA, Jan. 9, 2013.

You can keep your health care he promised

But even the cheapest will cost you $20,000 a year for a family of five, so good luck with that.

Victoria’s father gives Congress a lesson on the Constitution

This father intends to do what lock down, 911, and police arriving after the murders could not--protect his daughter, Victoria. Pass this one along if you believe there are procedures for amending the U.S. Constitution and our state constitutions.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhXPlCjr0Vw&feature=player_embedded#!

Drone strikes—secret—against Americans

The media are right on this, of course.

Drone strikes secret

DOJ White Paper

Little ones in the news

What would you have named the baby Clydesdale from the Super Bowl ad? Budweiser got over 50,000 suggestions. Winning name is HOPE. Her mother is Darla who was taking over the photoshoot (baby was sleeping).  Somewhere I saw that this ad was designed to grab women; I think it worked, that and the farmer/ Paul Harvey ad are the only ones I hear my friends talking about.  I’ve still never had a beer.  Smells awful.

Noticed a story on Fox News about a 6 year old girl who took her mom's car so she could visit her dad, who she missed. Hit a few cars and bushes (lots of snow on the narrow streets). No comment from the talking heads on the parents who apparently weren't together nor paying attention to visitation requirements. Actually, that and not car theft by kids, is the big break down in our society.  It was a Mercedes, so maybe mom was a baby momma of one of the NFL players.

World health rankings are distorted (and often used for political purposes, IMO). Infant mortality, for instance. "Doctors in the U.S. are much more aggressive than foreign counterparts about trying to save premature babies. Thousands of babies that would have been declared stillborn in other countries and never given a chance at life are saved in the U.S. As a result, the percentage of preterm births in America is exceptionally high—65% higher than in Britain, and about double the rates in Finland and Greece."

Wall St. Journal article

Don’t look down on Detroit

"If you want to know what the future of America is going to be like, just look at the city of Detroit. Once upon a time it was a symbol of everything that America was doing right, but today it has been transformed into a rotting, decaying, post-apocalyptic hellhole.

Detroit was once the fourth-largest city in the United States, and in 1960 Detroit had the highest per-capita income in the entire nation. It was the greatest manufacturing city the world had ever seen, and the rest of the globe looked at Detroit with a sense of awe and wonder. But now the city of Detroit has become a bad joke to the rest of the world. Unemployment is rampant, 60 percent of the children are living in poverty and the city government is on the verge of bankruptcy. They say that Detroit is just a matter of "weeks or months" away from running out of cash, and when Detroit does declare bankruptcy it will be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States.

But don't look down on Detroit, because the truth is that Detroit is really a metaphor for what is happening to America as a whole. In the United States today, our manufacturing infrastructure has been gutted, poverty is absolutely exploding and we are rapidly approaching national bankruptcy. Detroit may have gotten there first, but the rest of the country will follow soon enough..."
Read more: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/bankrupt-decaying-and-nearly-dead-24-facts-about-the-city-of-detroit-that-will-shock-you

New, fresh snow

In book club today we discussed "The sweetness at the bottom of the pie," by C. Alan Bradley. It won an award in 2009, his first, and now there are 5 in the series about an 11 year old girl, Flavia, who solves crimes. I recommend it, and I almost never choose to read a mystery unless it's on a list from book club.

Columbus weather--very messy and slow going.  Lots of cancellations tonight.  It took 35 min. to do a 12 min. trip coming home from book club this afternoon. Fortunately, the other drivers were patient and courteous, so we all kept moving at a safe crawl.

How great to drive home through the snow and know I had yesterday's oven fried chicken and pasta ready to warm up.

Do you make lists?

I make a list for 2 reasons; 1) company’s coming; 2) we’re planning a party. I have friends who derive great satisfaction from marking things off the to do list.  It just makes me feel like someone is nagging me.

The skeet shoot photo op of the President

"The photo, purportedly shot last Aug. 4 (which happens to be the president's birthday), shows Obama holding a shotgun. The barrel is smoking, indicating that the gun has just been fired. What's odd about it is that the president is aiming straight ahead, as if he were firing a rifle at a stationary target.

But in skeet shooting, the target, a disk known as a clay pigeon, is moving. It is launched from one of two "houses" and travels in a parabolic trajectory across the field. In order to hit it, one has to move the gun so as to follow the path of the clay. It's not impossible that one would fire at shoulder level, as Obama is doing in the photo, but it's unlikely. We therefore surmise that the picture is the product of a photo shoot, not a skeet shoot."
Wall St. Journal Feb. 4

Thought as much.  And I’ve never shot a gun.

What do wealthy Democrats in Congress do to ensure the rest of the country won't get what they have?

                         

1) Pass environmental regulations that stifle smaller businesses so their own corporations and businesses will pull ahead;

2) keep the poor out of their neighborhoods with set backs, parks, and required green spaces which adds thousands to the cost of building or maintaining a home;

3) Vote for burdensome tax regulations with loop holes only they can qualify for, engorging the tax code;

4) stifle all economic growth stemming from fossil fuels, so they can invest in alternative fuels with contracts from the government (like the railroad barons did to kill the shipping industry of canal owners in the 19th century);

5) foist government, single payer health care on the masses, but not for federal workers, and they'll pay cash for what they need even if they have to fly to a foreign country to get it;

6) look for ways to undermine marriage and religion, the two wealth builders that helped their families get ahead, so they won't have any competition;

7) provide as much “free stuff” as possible to lure voters to ensure they will stay in office;

8) hire private security guards with guns for the protection of their homes and families;

9) send their children to private schools while denying the same right to lower income parents who want charter schools;

10)  lie and blame, and when it doesn’t work, lie some more.

Airplane rides aren’t just for kids

These are the adult grandchildren of my husband’s sister, Jacob 20, and Erin 31, having a good time the the old airplane trick.  Ten years ago, they wouldn’t have been able to do this.

Pensions for Revolutionary War Soldiers—Monday Memories

While filling in gaps in the genealogy database I came across a transcribed document on the Internet from 2011, not available the last time I looked.  It was the Pension application for Jacob Williford, my 4th great grandfather, born in 1755 in North Carolina and died in Grainger County, Tennessee in 1839.  The application was for the 1832 Act of Congress on Pensions for war veterans.  Obviously, he was up a bit in years by then—being 77 years old.  His application was successful and he received $60/year from 1833 to his death six years later.  Because there were a number of pension acts by the federal government, I haven’t located information if he’d qualified under a previous one, nor did I find any mention of a wife (blank spot in the database).

Swore under oath (pension application  S1737   fn15NC   1832) 

“That he enlisted in the service of the United States under the following named officers and served as herein stated to wit Col. Benjamin Axum [Benjamin Exum] commanded the Regiment and Capt. Axum Phillips commanded the Company to which he belonged. He states that he entered the service in Edgecombe County in the State of North Carolina and rendezvoused at Tarborough in said State. He states that he entered the service in the month of June in the year 1780 and that he left the service in the month of September of the same year.”

He states that he served in this tour 3 months. He states that he was discharged in Hillsboro in the State of North Carolina at the expiration of his said term of service but that he has lost it long since. He states he marched from Tarborough and joined General Gates in the State of South Carolina and was attached to his Army when he was defeated but was not in the engagement in consequence of sickness but was left with the baggage wagons.

He states that after the defeat of General Gates he was taken prisoner by the Tories and was rescued by a company of Light horse -- that the Tories dispersed when the light horse came up. He states that Col. or General Lee and Col. William Washington commanded the Dragoons. He states that he volunteered he thinks in the month of June in the year 1781 and joined a Company at Halifax under Capt. Orphy Thomas and served a while under him and was then transferred to the Company commanded by Capt. Benjamin Coleman a Continental Capt., and marched under him to the County of Onslow near Wilmington and from thence we marched to Duplin County in North Carolina from thence we marched to Kingston [sic, Kinston] I think in Dobbs County where I was discharged by Capt. Coleman. He states that in this tour he served 3 months. He states further that he has lost his discharge given him by Capt. Coleman.

He states that he left the service in the month of September in the year 1781 and that after he returned home he heard of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. “

The pension requirements, begun in 1776 for those disabled by the war, changed often, and by 1820 they had to show proof of need but not disability. The requirements were loosened as the veterans aged, particularly for the widows.  At first, pensions were only given to the widows if they had been married before the man left the service, but eventually, when there were very few left (1878), a widow could receive benefits no matter when they married and if the man served as few as 14 days! 

Pensions enacted by Congress for Revolutionary War Veterans

Tennesseeans in the Revolutionary War

Battle of King’s Mountain Roster:  There is a Jacob Williford in the roster, but no way to know if this is him and the dates don’t line up, however, he seemed a little unsure of the dates himself.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl

Some people watch it only for the ads, which are very, very expensive. At Super Bowl XLVII between the Ravens and 49ers, the average cost of a 30-second advertisement was around $4 million.

Detroit coach shoots two thugs last night

"Police sources in Detroit say that a women's basketball coach, 72 years old and a reserve police officer, from Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School shot two men who attacked him as he was walking two basketball players to their cars in the school parking lot Friday night." [7NewsDetroit]

The man was accosted by the teens, former students at MLK school, who attempted to rob him with a gun, but the coach had a permit to carry. One teen is dead, the other hospitalized. He probably saved his own life, and maybe that of the girls, but strangely, I can't find this story in any of the major news outlets, or liberal news web sites like HuffPo or Daily Beast that have been saying there’s no reason to arm school personnel. If I weren't subscribing to a black conservative news source, I wouldn't have seen it.

http://newsninja2012.com/detroit-mi-mlk-jr-high-school-70-year-old-coach-shoots-attackers-who-tried-to-rob-him-one-teen-died-on-scene-other-survives/#axzz2JlX0GryJ

Catty remarks

Of the top 20 wealthiest people in the federal government (Congress, Judiciary, Executive and appointments to cabinet, etc.), only 6 are Republicans. Two of the Democrats are not elected, but appointed by the President. Next time you hear the President talk about "fat cats," think of those who surround and protect him.

Open Secrets

None, however, are as rich as Julia Dreyfuss or Oprah, who both supported Obama and are worth $2.9 billion and $2.8 billion.

A Circleville, Ohio resident remembers life in Austria and Germany, before and after WWII

Perhaps you should consider the advice from someone who has lived in a country where all guns were confiscated, and the government was all powerful.

“We lived in Nazi-controlled Austria in a refugee camp in late 1944. Guns had been confiscated long ago by Adolf Hitler. In the refugee camp, my mother saved my life with an illegal gun. And in late May 1945, we were in the eastern part of Germany when there was a weeks-long total breakdown of law and order after World War II ended.

Gangs of criminals were going through the city one street at a time, raping, getting drunk and looting. My mother made elaborate plans to keep them out of our apartment and for us to hide in the basement without being seen. Fortunately she was successful in keeping the vermin out.

Most of the other women and even young girls were not so lucky. They were defenseless with no guns and all men of fighting age, 15 to 60, either prisoners of war or dead. At that time my father was a Russian POW. My mom still had the illegal semiautomatic pistol with her, just in case her plan did not work. I was a sickly child who cried a lot of the time.

One day while we were all hiding in the basement, a gang of criminals pounded on the blocked doors and blocked windows while they screamed, “Frau Schnapps.” I was totally quiet. I knew we were in mortal danger.

Unless one has experienced such events, one probably cannot imagine it can happen. Most Americans think, “It will never happen here.” Hope not. But don't count on it.

In any case, don’t ever let our government take our guns away or keep a list of all gun owners. After my father was released from Russian captivity, he lived in Romania until he fled to West Germany. The communists would knock on people’s doors at 3 a.m. and arrest them without a judge involved. Many of these people never were seen again. The authorities had guns, of course. They always do.

Based on the experiences of my youth, I do not share many people’s blind trust in governments, especially big powerful governments. My father read the Constitution before he decided to request to immigrate to the U.S. with his family. He had had his fill of communism, National Socialism (Nazism) and governments that feel the need and have the power to arbitrarily confiscate weapons.

Of course, Europeans generally accept that they can’t own guns. But their history is such that they started out as serfs and always had a lord, king or emperor. There was always a powerful leader who had control over the lives of his subjects. We Americans threw off the yoke of aristocracy and had a new birth of freedom.”

GERHARD MAROSCHER Circleville

The Recession was over in June 2009—before the stimulus kicked in—in 2013 he says recovery has begun

If Obama hadn't tried to take over 1/6 of the economy throwing all plans for development, invention and expansion into a free fall, the recession he continues to blame on Bush could have been solved quickly. (Technically, it was over in June 2009, so everything he did after that caused the economy to remain sluggish.)

Unintended consequences—population control

The “West” invented and promoted eugenics and birth control (aka reproductive health) to limit the populations of the developing countries (it still does through the U.N.), but the irony is western developed countries are now at below replacement birth rates, and don’t have enough workers to support those born after WWII.  Without immigration, much of it illegal, the United States would be at negative population growth.  But Mexico has a birth dearth we’re contributing to.

70 countries are below replacement fertility.  Now, environmentalists will say this is a good thing.  What do you say? Slavery used to be a solution for a shortage of manpower.  Would you like to go back to that?  Or maybe just a slow double decade of sluggish economy like Japan?

Look how the baby boomer demographic in the U.S. drove our economy from 1945 to 1980.  Do you really think the collapse in 2007 was just about banking and bad government policies, or can you watch that generation and see there is no one to buy the McMansions or shop at the malls?  Old people save, not spend.

There’s a reason for the term “human capital,” and our current government policy is to destroy it.  The age group that has babies is the one who create the inventions that make our life better.

The Obama economy

Where the rich get richer and the poor get more unemployment benefits.

Ballards before the move to Illinois—Friday family photo

William Ballard (Grand dad) seated in front with Leta Ballard on his lap; behind him the young boy in a suit is Arthur Ballard; behind William is his wife Leanor Williford Ballard. Standing to his left is Blanche Molly Ballard and her brother Earle Ballard.  On the far right in the white blouse and black skirt is Cora Ballard, oldest daughter of William and Leanor.  The man directly behind the baby is Frank Williford, Leanor’s brother and to his right is probably his wife Minnie Cline Williford.  Between Frank and Cora are Joe and Maude Rodeffer who in the 1930s lived in Mt. Morris, but I don’t believe are relatives. 

Leta was born in 1906 in Tennessee, and appears to be about 2 years old. If Roy and Bessie are in the photo, I can’t pick them out.

Update:  A 1917 farm directory for Ogle County that I just found today says Wm Ballard was a resident of Ogle Co. in 1905. . . maybe they returned to Tennessee for a while?

Media Landscape

Prostitution and the Super Bowl

As missionaries with Great Commission Ministries since 2000, Dan and Julie Clark have had the opportunity to serve a variety of populations including American college students at New Life/Mosiac, members of an inner-city church plant in Hampton, VA and church planters and orphaned children in Kiev, Ukraine. They were on staff with Children’s HopeChest from 2004/2005-2009 working with orphan graduates and women in crisis. They saw the need for a nonprofit with the focus of early intervention and prevention in the lives of orphaned children and vulnerable women and families, and launched doma in August 2008.

doma empowers women and embraces children at ConnectionPoints in Ethiopia, Uganda, Ukraine, and Russia. doma seeks to meet opportunities as presented by their communities and responds to each with individualized programming: a children’s center in Uganda, early intervention with baby houses in Ukraine, parenting and mentorship for vulnerable women in Russia and human trafficking survivors in the US.

http://www.domaconnection.org/learn/history-and-vision/

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/12/17/john-school-lesson-prostitution-has-victims.html

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-31-child-prostitution-super-bowl_N.htm

http://www.ennisdailynews.com/sports/59-arrests-in-super-bowl-prostitution-ring/

Violence

On Advice

From the very talented

http://blo64rt.blogspot.com/

How low can they go?

"Does the person you share a bedroom with snore?"  Isn't that about the dumbest advertisement--20 years ago it would have been "Does your husband snore?"  and maybe 10 years ago, "Does your partner snore," but now I guess it is whoever needs a bed for the night and stops by. Or it is directed to the prison population.

A new abortion clinic for Columbus area

Last week, Mervyn Samuel, a well-known Columbus abortionist, expanded his business to Pickerington, Ohio. He now has three offices in the Columbus area. Yesterday, Pregnancy Decision Health Center decided that it needs to be there to minister to the women attracted to abortion and to give the women of Pickerington a REAL choice. It will take a lot of work to get up and running. And, it will take about $250,000. So maybe you don't want to march, maybe you're just tired of the back and forth about life and choice and the value of life of the unborn. But I challenge all my central Ohio friends to donate, especially if you are a member of an adoption triad:

Pregnancy Decision Health Centers, 665 E. Dublin-Granville Rd., Suite 120, Columbus, OH 43229.

Gun control and Immigration

Do you think employment and the economy are completely off the national radar? Seems to be for Obama and his back up singers in the media. In the bad old days of GW Bush I remember even fast food restaurants were advertising $2 above minimum with benefits. Mr. President, the recession was officially over in June 2009.

Bureau of Labor Statistics for January 2013 (this is for those of you who think reporting negative news about Obama is racist and hateful)

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult women (7.3 percent) and blacks (14.0 percent) edged up in December, while the rates for adult men (7.2 percent), teenagers (23.5 percent), whites (6.9 percent), and Hispanics (9.6 percent) showed little or no change. The jobless rate for Asians was 6.6 percent (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Abby Johnson used to work for Planned Parenthood

“I remember when I worked at Planned Parenthood in 2005, we were fighting SO hard to stop the parental consent legislation. We knew it would be devastating for us. Parental notification was SO easy to get around. They could give us the number to Walmart or Target or their cousin and as long as we said we made the contact, then they could get their abortion. We knew parental consent would make our jobs much more difficult. And I remember sitting across the hall from all of the pro-life groups...the groups that we were fighting. Well, all but ONE. There was ONE group that stood alongside Planned Parenthood. There was ONE group that opposed parental consent. I remember thinking to myself THEN, "what type of 'pro-life' group would ever not want parental consent?" Well, that same group is continuing to fight against parental consent in our state. Any group that will stand alongside Planned Parenthood is certainly no pro-life group. We must divide from these groups as they are incredibly detrimental to our efforts. The group I am referring to in this case is Texas Right to Life fueled by the damaging legislation of National Right to Life.”

From her Facebook page

How long will you blame Bush

Democrats managed to blame Hoover and extend the Great Depression for 10 years.  Maybe, if Obama overrules the Constitution (again) he can get a 3rd or 4th term and keeps us down.

Many abort at 20 weeks

And Democrats advocate and applaud this cruel and inhuman act as a woman’s right.

Dilation and Extraction (D&X) (partial-birth abortion): from 20 weeks after LMP to full-term

”This procedure takes three days. During the first two days, the cervix is stretched open using thin rods made of seaweed, and medication is given for pain. On the third day, the abortion doctor uses ultrasound to locate the legs of the fetus. Grasping a leg with forceps, the doctor delivers the fetus up to the head. Next, scissors are inserted into the base of the skull to create an opening. A suction catheter is placed into the opening to remove the brain. The skull collapses and the fetus is removed.” First Choice Clinic 

http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-20-weeks

          

Lindsey at 20 weeks (today), 3rd pregnancy

I would never want to be 20 again, but

These photos do bring back some memories.  University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, on the Quad in the Fog. The first photo is the Illini Union, and lived just a few steps away in McKinley Hall (YWCA) on Wright Street.

Prager on Obama’s Inaugural Address

The Obama Inaugural Address, by Dennis Prager

“To understand leftism, the most dynamic religion of the last hundred years, you have to understand how the left thinks. The 2013 inaugural address of President Barack Obama provides one such opportunity.

"What makes us exceptional -- what makes us American -- is our allegiance to an idea articulated in a declaration made more than two centuries ago: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'"

What American does not resonate to a president reaffirming this magnificent statement from our Declaration of Independence?

But here's the intellectual sleight of hand: "What makes us exceptional -- what makes us American" is indeed the belief that rights come from God.

But this seminal idea is not mentioned again in the entire inaugural address. This was most unfortunate. An inaugural address that would concentrate on the decreasing significance of God in American life -- one of the left's  proudest  accomplishments  -- would address what may well be the single most important development in the last half-century of American life.

Continue Reading   http://www.dennisprager.com/columns.aspx?g=a656bc34-0083-4bee-82ae-48aad1cdf80f&url=dennis-prager-n1499966

Famous quotes

Our skeet shooting president

"If he is a skeet shooter, why have we not heard of this? Why have we not seen photos? Why hasn't he referenced this at any point in time?" Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said Monday on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront."

"I tell you what I do think," she later added. "I think he should invite me to Camp David, and I'll go skeet shooting with him and I bet I'll beat him."

Terrorist groups are alive and well--al-Shabaab

National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START ) reports:  “Before its account was suspended by Twitter Jan. 25, 2013, the Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab had been using Twitter actively -- sending about 1,250 tweets to its more than 20,000 followers since December 2011. The primary goal of the group’s (@HSMPress) tweets had been to engage with English-speaking supporters and promote its own overarching narrative of current events.  In its tweets, the group frames invading East African forces and the Transitional Federal Government as Western proxies at war with Muslims in Somalia.”

“Violent Jihadism in Real Time: Al-Shabaab’s Use of Twitter” is the name of the report.

“Using an analytical tool from Topsy, which provides deep, comprehensive analyses of hundreds of billions of Tweets and web pages gathered from millions of unique websites, blogs and social media services, the researchers also evaluated the reach of al-Shabaab’s Twitter account. Al-Shabaab’s most prolific tweets included those about how Hurricane Sandy was a small fraction of the destruction the U.S. deserves, and how the horrors of 7/7 and 7/21 will be eclipsed by what is looming on Britain’s shores. Such analysis shows that the group’s cumulative exposure had grown over the past year.”

Paula Priesse says on Facebook

President Obama views America as a nation of imbeciles. Well to be fair, Obama did get re-elected. But even with a second term now guaranteed, Obama still displays a pathological need for shameless pandering. Franklin Foer of “New Republic” to President Obama: “Have you ever fired a gun?” Obama: “Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.” Sure O, we believe you. Obama goes on to say the strong support for the 2nd Amendment is due to hunters being “pretty protective” of family tradition. And being the magnanimous leader he is, Obama would never interfere with that.

On numerous past occasions President Obama labeled himself as a constitutional law professor. If true, never in the history of academia has a professor known so little about his or her subject. Thanks Mr. President, if we’re ever invaded by a nation of ducks, or a deer starts shooting up a school classroom, or if your skeets come to confiscate our guns, we’ll be prepared. The buffoonery continues. P

Monday Memories--The Tennessee Reunions of Northern Illinois

I’ve written at this blog about the Tennessee connections based on the memories of my father.  After my great-grandfather moved to Illinois, he helped a number of families come north and get settled.  They would meet for picnics when a visiting relative was in the area, and it came to be known as the Tennessee Reunion.  The first my dad remembered was around 1924.  All the people who attended (with the exception of the children born in Illinois) had known each other back in Tennessee--Martins, Millers, Ballards, Corbetts, Biggs, Vessers, and Willifords and some others.  Most were related by blood or marriage.
Today I received a photo, too long for my scanner of the reunion held at Lawrence Park, Sterling, Illinois on July 14, 1929.  As near as I can tell, the Ballards and Corbetts are at the left.  Since I didn’t know any of these people when they were this young, I haven’t identified all of them. 

I think the two girls with dark hair sitting with the children, about 6 people from the left, might be Dorothy and Gladys Corbett, with possibly their cousin Phil Ballard between them.  Their mother Bessie is directly behind them, and maybe her mother Leanor Ballard is next to her.  It’s possible that Roy and Helen Ballard are next to Art and Myrtle Ballard. I can’t pick out my great-grandfather, but he was usually the tallest one.
Imagine being so dressed up for a picnic? People had some pride in appearances in those days.

What does it take for a congregation to grow?

Mainline churches are losing ground and evangelicals are stalled, according to this interfaith report which I saw in the NALC newsletter. Aside from all the attention to worship style (contemporary, innovative, traditional) it seems that there does need to be a reason for existing. Many churches have forgotten that. It helps to stand for something. If you're a service club or just supporting your denomination's history and traditions, you probably won't grow. http://faithcommunitiestoday.org/decade-change

And I think this is reported in most church growth surveys—“The primary way people first connect with a congregation is through someone who is already involved.”  Indirectly, that’s how we got to UALC.  In 1974 I heard about a program on the radio which was at a church I’d never seen (after 7 years in Upper Arlington, I’d never been on that street).  I attended, was invited to a Bible study, and then to attend a service.  We were confirmed on Palm Sunday 1976.

Children of Sandy Hook getting help from Comfort Dogs

Lutheran Church Charities Comfort Dogs have Been at Newtown, CT since mid-December and have been requested to stay through January at Sandy Hook Elementary and Newtown High School.

Our Lutheran Synod, North American Lutheran Church (NALC, which is U.S., Canada and Mexico) works cooperatively with other Lutheran groups and agencies for disasters.  The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has an innovative “first responder” team of dogs (from the photos I’m guessing they are all Goldens).

The charity was created in 2008, and has been used after the tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., and after Hurricane Sandy.

“On New Year's Day - at 3 am - 20 handlers and 10 LCC K-9 Comfort Dogs left the LCC offices in Addison, Illinois to travel to Newtown, Connecticut to be with the people of the town. Their first stop will be the high school. Visit plans for the week will include all those public servants who gave so much these past weeks (fire, police, public officials) and the often forgotten residents of senior centers and nursing homes. We will also be available for any staff, faculty, families and students of the elementary schools in the area. “

Story here.

Walk for Life in San Francisco

Watching Rev. Clenard Childress, Jr. address the pro-lifers of the west coast on Jan 26, 4:30 (EST).  He is outraged at the decimation of the black population of America by abortion.

       

Notice the proposed cuts—of both parties

Happy birthday Robert Burns

We’re going to a Bobby Burns dinner party tonight (his birthday was January 25).  Not sure we will have haggis, neeps and tatties, but our hostess is quite well known for her skills in the kitchen.  The guests are supposed to read, recite or sing something Scottish, so I may read the Bruce tartan story from this book.

The Bruces originated in France and after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 ended up with a lot of land. Sir Robert de Brus, a Norman knight came to England with William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy.  The Duke a distant cousin of the English king  had claimed the English throne when the King had died. After the conquest, the Norman French eventually took over the Anglo-Saxon culture, land and language.

The son of Robert the Brus, Robert went to Scotland and was made Lord of Annandale by David I, whose great-granddaughter Isabella married Robert Bruce, 5th Lord of Annandale.  Through this marriage their son Robert, 6th Lord of Annandale, Regent of Scotland, inherited a right to the Crown to which he was nominated by Alexander III.  Robert, 7th Lord, married the Celtic Countess of Carrick and their son became that Earl of Carrick who was to wear the Scottish Crown, complete the liberation of Scotland, and be familiarly known as Robert the Bruce (1272-1329). 

               

Negro “weeds” and Obama

Obama was still a candidate when this video was made.  Not enough people thought killing black babies was a tragedy.

Are you really a liberal?

Speaking for the most vilified in our society

Watched a public service announcement this morning by a young man adopted in 1971--bi-racial, a result of a rape in 1970. He became an outstanding student and athlete, successful adult, B.A., M.A. now married with a beautiful family. He thanked his bio-mom for giving him life and not letting the circumstances of his conception destroy the person he became.

The March for Life, January 25, 2013, in Washington, DC.  About 500,000, the largest human rights march in history, attended. Many inspiring speakers—I watched on EWTN.

Richard Cohen — Washington Post, October 19, 2005
“[T]he very basis of the Roe v. Wade decision — the one that grounds abortion rights in the Constitution — strikes many people now as faintly ridiculous. Whatever abortion may be, it cannot simply be a matter of privacy.”

Yesterday at the coffee shop I asked a Catholic acquaintance if his parish was sending a bus to DC for the March for Life. He looked at me as if I'd just asked if Armstrong had landed on the moon. "Of course, we send one every year." If our local Protestant churches can't organize a van or bus, maybe they could contribute to the transportation costs of the Catholics? Or, how about a sermon?

Some cuts need to be for show--like removing Planned Parenthood from the national teat. The cut won't do much in terms of the national debt--but Planned Parenthood performed 333,964 abortions on unborn children during the 2011-2012 fiscal year; those abortions were estimated to have generated $150 million dollars for the “nonprofit” organization. It generated $1.2 BILLION in income. Our share for ...2011-2012 was $542.4 million, which represents 45.2 percent of the group’s total annual budget. Increasingly, abortions are for the poor and minorities, whose children are aborted at a much higher rate than white middle class. PP appears to have a very strong business model with well paid executives and a very loyal following who will donate, so let it be on their conscience.

Some links for todays March for Life in Washington, DC

1) Listen to the voice of an American President, and You WILL Know His Heart! In 2001, then IL State Sen. Barack Obama, for the 2nd Year in a Row, was the SOLE Senator OPPOSING Born ALIVE Infant Bills on the State Senate Floor.
Listen and SHARE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUkbuhXzbvI&feature=player_embedded

2) "'October Baby'" is the story of Hannah, a 19-year-old girl, beautiful girl, who learns that she is adopted and never told because she is the survivor of an abortion," Jon Erwin, the film's co-director, told CBN News.
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2012/March/October-Baby-Tale-of-an-Abortion-Survivor/

3) Nurse Talks About Live Birth Abortion: Watch and SHARE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDX52pEC7_w&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL4585408DA22C01BB

4) Babies Left to Die: Read and SHARE: http://www.mcclpac.org/about_obama_baipa.htm

5) Norma McCorvey of Roe v. Wade: Watch and SHARE: http://www.lifenews.com/2012/10/24/norma-mccorvey-of-roe-v-wade-dont-vote-for-obama-he-kills-babies/

6) TRUE Story behind Roe v. Wade: https://www.facebook.com/notes/rebecca-kiessling/women-who-cried-wolf-the-illegitimate-rape-claim-behind-roe-v-wade/10151362984373154

7) Every 30 seconds a legal American child - our future - is slaughtered because he/she is an inconvenience to his/her mother...and father. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151265701499482&set=a.392255169481.169550.73881494481&type=1&theater 

8) On the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, pro-lifers have something to celebrate: the closure of 1,500 abortion clinics over the past 22 years. http://www.lifenews.com/2013/01/21/report-1500-abortion-clinics-have-closed-since-1991/

9) Shocking Graph: Euthanasia isn't for the elderly only. These are America's children who never were born. Abortions at Planned Parenthood: LifeNews.com  www.lifenews.com Here are Planned Parenthood’s own numbers. They reflect their activity in the abortion arena. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/07/11/abortions-at-planned-parenthood-done-in-record-numbers/

10) Abortion ISN'T Health Care! The Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in St. Louis has botched yet another abortion — its fourth recently. http://www.lifenews.com/2013/01/21/planned-parenthood-botches-abortion-tries-to-hide-victim/

11) President Obama sang the praises of Roe v. Wade. On one level, that's not surprising -- he's the most pro-choice President ever. But Obama is also a Harvard Law School alumnus, and he used to teach Constitutional law, and so you would think he would see Roe for the embarrassing bit of ideologically motivated junk it is. Lest you think I'm just showing my bias, read the collection of pro-choice scholars and journalists slamming the decision." http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/139828#.UP7SUifO0iH

12) Heal NOT Kill! WHO wants to be an abortionist? http://www.lifesitenews.com/blog/accomplishment-8-most-doctors-now-refuse-to-do-abortions

Children in poverty

In 1965, 24 percent of black infants and 3.1 percent of white infants were born to single mothers. Then came the War on Poverty, legalized abortion and lots of free sex (contraception).  The values of marriage were tossed out the window by our culture.  By 1990 the rates had risen to 64 percent for black infants, 18 percent for whites. By 2009 it was more than 70% for blacks, more than 50% for Hispanics, and 30% for whites. (For some reason the CDC can’t seem to get birth or abortion rates out in a timely fashion.)  Marriage of her parents is the best anti-poverty program a girl can have.  Uncle Sam is just a disastrous step-dad, regardless of the Julia lies Obama floated during the campaign.

John Francis Regis (d. 1640) is the patron saint of children whose parents aren’t married, and he’s also the patron saint of social workers.

Cute puppy photo

How I remember learning about abortion

The pro-life movement is a much younger crowd than pro-abortion, now graying and cranky. It was so wonderful today to hear all those high school girls speaking out at the March for Life in Washington, DC.

I'm not sure I knew or understood what abortion was when I was in high school, and maybe not even in college.  It might have been  the Sherry Finkbine case of thalidomide (1962) that first brought it to my attention.  That drug (a teratogenic sedative like alcohol) was not legal in the U.S., but she had gotten it in Europe for her 5th pregnancy. So her story was on all the news (3 channels, at that time). Therapeutic abortion was legal in the U.S., but the hospital feared bad publicity and backed out after it was scheduled, so she went to Sweden.

Here's an article written by a Thalidomide survivor, Frederick Dove. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15536544

There have been law suits and spotty compensation from the chemical companies, but as they age, they require more care for their disabilities, and their parents are either dead, or need care themselves.

Obama and fiscal responsibility

“But I am absolutely committed to fiscal responsibility, which is why I’ve already proposed freezing all discretionary spending unrelated to national security for the next three years. And once the bipartisan fiscal commission finishes its work, I’ll spend the next year making the tough choices necessary to further reduce our deficit and lower our debt — whether I get help from the other side or not.” (President Barack Obama at Cuyahoga Community College, Parma, OH, 9/8/10)

1952-2012: U.S. Government Debt vs. Household Debt

The wrong diner

No one died during the National Anthem

Backwards, March!

“When one hears the President of the United States use his inaugural address to favorably cite the most infamous phrase associated with the disastrous Neville Chamberlain — that would be “peace in our time” — there can only be trouble ahead.

The mechanics for this march backwards to failure are already in place.

First and foremost is the Orwellian use of his language. Tyranny is freedom. Collectivism is liberty. “Together” is shorthand for government control.”

American Spectator

I’m sure it’s nutritious, but. . .

From World’s Healthiest Foods Newsletter

Quote of the Day—Red Flag News

“Other than the fact that none of it was my fault, I take full  responsibility.”  - Hillary Clinton

(A note from our attorneys: This is not a real quote.)

Don’t be fooled

She’s trying to distract you from the lies about Benghazi, where the survivors are, why Rice was sent out to lie for her, and why she shouldn’t be your next president.  Don’t be fooled.  She learned it all from Bill.  And frankly, size does matter, and this is bigger than Bill’s.

Where have the smart women gone?

Have you seen the creepy, sexist, anti-black, anti-woman, anti-common sense ad by the pro-abortion forces?  Here's the setting:  gorgeous, athletic black man, beautifully dressed, sitting by a romantic fire, drink in hand, sexy voice, and encouraging abortion?  Really?  With 40% of abortions for black women, they really need to find additional ways to marginalize African Americans?  I guess the sexploitation ads used in the Obama campaign worked so well, they decided to push the envelope. Were all the smart women aborted in the last 40 years?

Who has killed more children. Lanza or Obama?

“The president himself has more directly killed about 176 children in Pakistan by the use of CIA drones. These drones have been dispatched by him alone -- not pursuant to any congressional declaration of war (Bush had Congressional approval for Afghanistan and Iraq, just in case you have a Democrat’s memory). At least two of these murdered children were Americans. But since the cameras were kept away, since all of this takes place 10,000 miles from America, and since the survivors are legally and politically helpless, no one here hears the Pakistani children’s cries of pain and anguish.” Judge Andrew Napolitano  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/24/guns-and-president/#ixzz2Iu2e0nhZ

Twelve reasons Hollywood can’t hide from the blame

I was reading the Columbus-Dispatch Week-ender this morning—looking for movies I’ll probably not see.  Here’s what I found in the Now Screening section (I’m leaving off the evaluations for sex, nudity, crudity, and rude).

1.  Broken City—violence.

2. Django Unchained—strong graphic violence through out, vicious fighting (this is the one where Jamie Foxx jokes about killing all the white people and his audience just laughs)

3.  Hobbit—fantasy-action violence

4.  The Impossible—disturbing injury images

5.  Jack Reacher—violence

6.  The Last Stand—bloody violence through out

7.  Lincoln—war violence, carnage

8.  Mama—violence and terror, disturbing

9.  Les Miserables—violence

10.  Texas Chainsaw 3D—strong grisly violence

11.  Wreck-it-Ralph—violence

12.  Zero dark Thirty—strong violence, brutal, disturbing.

That said.  You’ve bought the tickets that bought their mansions, sports cars and designer clothes.  What’s your excuse?

A story about combat–Ryan Smith

This is an important article, but the author needs to know, as you do, that the whole point of putting women in combat is to weaken the military.

"Yes, a woman is as capable as a man of pulling a trigger. But the goal of our nation's military is to fight and win wars. Before taking the drastic step of allowing women to serve in combat units, has the government considered whether introducing women into the above-described situation would have made my unit more or less combat effective?"

The reality that awaits women in combat

Hold the sprinkles

“What difference does it make?” Clinton

There was a time in our history—oh, maybe 4-5 years ago—when truth mattered.  Those days are gone forever. We’re now in Obamaland, a land we never could have imagined. That’s why we’re called Conservatives.  We think some things need to be conserved, treasured, held close, and admired.  Like truth.

North Africa—the new Afghanistan?

"When Mitt Romney brought up Mali in the presidential debate, the reference was met with sneers from the left and bewilderment from the media. “Despite Romney Claims, Mali is No Afghanistan, Expert Says,” is how US News and World Report hea...dlined the rebuttal. Three months later, it’s become increasingly clear that not only is Mali turning into Afghanistan, but North Africa is sliding down the same muddy slope."

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/north-africa-is-the-new-afghanistan/

Democrats #1 solution for poverty

Orange peel, nutritional data

I’ve been making candied orange peel because I eat an orange a day, and it seemed a shame to waste it.  I saw the recipe in Edible Columbus. It looks pretty high in vitamin C, and OK on fiber.  Certainly more nutritious than eating candy, which is what it tastes like.

Edible Columbus, Winter 2012

“This homemade confection is well worth the effort, since it is far superior to any candied citrus that is commonly available in your local grocery store. It can be enjoyed as a snack, or incorporated into many holiday baked goods. Have fun with this versatile product that adds a sweet orange punch of flavor.

3 large Navel oranges (washed and dried)
2 cups granulated sugar, plus 1 cup for coating the peel
2 cups water, preferably still spring or filtered water
Additional water (good tap water is fine for this) for blanching and washing down the sides of the pot.

Cut the oranges into quarters and juice them into another container. (Reserve this juice for another use). With a teaspoon, scrape out the pulp, leaving the clean white pith on the inside of the quarters. With the rind side up, slice the peel into thin strips.
Fill a heavy 2-quart saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the slices of peel, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Discard water, and fill the saucepan with new water. Repeat this blanching process 2 more times. This process will remove the bitterness from the peel and open the cellular walls, enabling the peel to absorb the sugar syrup.

When the peels have been drained for a third time, add 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of filtered water. Take a wet pastry brush and wash down the sides of the pot. Dry sugar crystals will promote crystallization of the syrup. Bring this to a very low simmer for approximately 1 hour. The peels should be very soft and somewhat translucent. Be very careful not to overcook this syrup, as it will start to caramelize. Carefully transfer (sugar syrup is extremely hot) to a container and refrigerate overnight.
Strain the peel from its syrup. You can use this syrup for a delicious drizzle on just about anything. Toss in granulated sugar, and place on a wire rack to dry for 24 hours. Transfer to an airtight container. These will last for 2–3 weeks if stored properly.

Beyonce still did a great job

I don't care that Beyonce lip-synced the national anthem. It was beautiful. Voices crack in the cold air--give the woman a break. What I did object to is the president lip syncing to voices of the 1950s as though nothing has happened and billions hadn't been spent. 

Story at Washington Post

Jobs and debt

Obama didn't address jobs or solving the debt on Monday. Why should he? He won without those issues, even though unemployment for minorities and youth is at record high. Minorities and youth are also the ones with the highest abortion rates. He spoke to the nation like it was the early 1950s when Democrats were still fighting all the civil rights actions of the Republicans and the Jim Crow laws put in place by his party still existed. I guess he was recorded "present" in history class, but wasn't taking the test.

Many Asians and Hispanics supported Obama in the last election.  Odd, isn’t it?  Both groups have fled oppressive regimes, either Communists on the left or dictators on the right, and yet that’s what they gravitate to.  Free stuff trumps politics.  Better opportunity?  Good jobs?  Not so much.  He hyped free birth control and doesn’t even have a woman at cabinet level.

Sources:  Pew Research;  Multi-American ;  Bloomberg

Actually, I don’t buy the whole story—yes, they did turn out, but it was conservative Christians who stayed home from the polls and liberal Catholics who did go to the polls who really handed him 4 more years to help destroy our economy and culture. There are a lot of so-called Catholics who need to throw in the towel and become main line Protestants if they want a club of like minded friends since they don’t seem alarmed by the way Obama is attempting to destroy the Roman Catholic church.  And there are fundamentalist Christians who need to get their nose out of the Bible and take a look around at people who share their values.

Never waste a crisis—or just lie to confuse the nation

An AR-15, or the so-called "Assault Weapon", was not used in the Newtown school shooting. The shooter even tried weeks earlier to buy a rifle but was turned down in the background check. So he had to kill his Mother to steal her rifle. There were initial reports, right after the shooting, that police found the AR-15 in his car, NOT IN THE SCHOOL. The rifle was not used. The shooter went into the school with 4 handguns, NOT an Assault Rifle as the media has charged. I remember in the initial hours of this shooting, the Police said they found the rifle in the car. But the Administration-controlled MSM had a pre-planned attack already waiting, to ban so-called assault weapons and jumped on that line of reporting, knowing it was a lie, which included people like Piers Morgan who said the shooter used an AR-15 that shoots hundreds of rounds per minute, as if it were a machine gun. Could it be that the Democrat Liberals and THEIR MEDIA were pushing for the new law, hoping they could do it, before the Coroner released the info? Absolutely.

VIDEO: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50208495#50208495

From Janet Airlines Facebook site. Originally aired in Dec. 15, 2012.  Lanza did what criminals do.  He ignored the laws about guns; he stole; he killed. The new laws will also be ignored by criminals.

Forty years ago today. . .

“Forty years ago today the Supreme Court rendered its Roe v. Wade decision. Those who believe in the sanctity of human life and long to see America embrace a culture in which innocent life is honored and protected continue to look for a day when humanity is again deemed valuable, where we cherish even those who would be born in "less than ideal circumstances." Children are our most precious resource and remain the greatest symbol of hope God has given us. This is just one reason why the annual March for Life has been such a powerful aspect of the pro-life movement. This year’s event is Friday, January 25th, and once again a multitude of Americans will gather in Washington, D.C. to show their support for precious little ones.

Our Founding Fathers declared: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” However, since 1973, millions of children have been denied the basic right upon which all the others hinge: the right to life.

Lately, President Obama has taken to boldly highlighting children in his speeches. Using kids as the backdrop for his gun control speech, the President claimed his commitment to young ones. "If there's even one life that can be saved, then we've got an obligation to try,” he said. He then outlined why gutting our Second Amendment is the means by which he believes we accomplish this. Every law-abiding citizen’s heart is broken when children are the target of men hell-bent on committing acts of evil, and we agree that the safety and protection of innocent life is paramount.

The hypocrisy of it all, however, is that while the President publicly acknowledges the value of “even one life” when it advances his own political agenda, he fails to acknowledge as much when it comes to protecting the lives of children soon to be born. In that same speech, he proclaimed that “when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now.” Well, who is more vulnerable than those who find themselves at the mercy of others to honor their existence and receive them into our world? Are these—the truly vulnerable—not worthy of the protection of which the President speaks? Why is it that their cause is never the subject of one of his lofty addresses to the nation? Has he ever even mentioned the March for Life that takes place in his own back yard and ought to be worthy of at least a scant mention? If indeed we have an obligation to save “even one life,” when will we hear our President rally Americans to stand alongside women who find themselves in these less than ideal circumstances to offer the support they need, to encourage parents to choose life, and to promote the option of adoption? Instead, he has committed himself to the most liberal of abortion agendas—so much so that as a Senator he couldn't even bring himself to support the Born Alive Act that would save the lives of babies ALREADY BORN and needing medical aid. Further, he believes taxpayers should betray their consciences by paying for his abortion agenda. This same President has stated he didn’t want his daughters “punished with a baby,” and remarked that it was “above my pay grade” to answer a pastor's question: “At what point does a baby get human rights?” Yet now we are to somehow believe that children are the priority in his current aggressive campaign against the Second Amendment?

The President continued to herald his support of children in yesterday’s inaugural speech. “Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit, to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm,” he said—and I agree. Nor is our journey complete, I would add, until all our children soon to be born are also “cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.” The President, of course, did not include this, as it does not line up with his worldview or his party’s platform. See, his commitment to our children is selective. When children in the womb are on the chopping block, the President is silent. When he places the Second Amendment, however, on the chopping block, children are his focus. Never mind the fact that his latest proposals would not protect them from evildoers and would, in fact, leave responsible, law-abiding citizens less able to protect them as well.

Clearly, there is no shortage of hypocrisy coming out of Washington, and this is just one example. Americans can expect to be inundated with rhetoric and doublespeak for the duration of this administration. It is truly Orwellian. So it is absolutely imperative that we keep our eyes and ears open; don't allow yourselves to be sucked in or lulled to sleep. Our freedoms are being compromised, our common sense insulted, and our children exploited. We must be vigilant and engaged, and we must remain hopeful that a better day is coming.”—Sarah Palin